


Flashes of Memory

by exactlywhoyoudexpect



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:13:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25832599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exactlywhoyoudexpect/pseuds/exactlywhoyoudexpect
Summary: One night in Hateno Village, Link travels through his memories, and memories of previous Links. Explicit content.
Relationships: Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Kudos: 51





	Flashes of Memory

**Author's Note:**

> HI! I've been shipping Zelink since I was 6. This is the first completed work I've written and had the courage to post.
> 
> The Legend of Zelda belongs to Nintendo. Please don't sue me.

It was a quiet night in Hateno Village. The moon was a sliver above the cliff and the stars were scattered across the cloudless sky. The shops were closed; the houses full of sleeping people.  
Except for his, but it would be shortly.   
Link led Epona across the bridge to his house, then removed her bridle once she was in the yard. At least it was a bigger area for her than what would be available the stables. He patted her and pulled an apple out of his pack. She snuffled his hand as she took the apple.   
He walked toward the cooking pot outside the front door of his house. He supposed it was time for some supper himself. As he lit the fire with some flint, he decided on something quick and filling; salt grilled meat.  
He wolfed down his dinner quickly. He just wanted to sleep, in his home, in his bed. One night of peace. Link walked through the door, pleased to see that everything remained as it had been when he left. He walked up the stairs to the loft, stripped to his boxers, and curled up under the covers.  
As soon as his head hit the pillow, a thought whispered from the edge of his mind. Zelda should be here with me. He let out a sigh and pushed his bangs out of his face. Soon. Maybe not in this bed. But soon. Did I ever --- Did she want to--- why do I need? ---   
His mind relented and let his fragmented thoughts settle into sleep.

Flash

Why was everything so gray? Was this Hyrule?  
He looked down at himself. He was wearing green, but that was the only color in the room.   
He walked down the stairs to find a room with stone walls, swordsmen statues mounted in the wall, and stained glass. In the dead center of the room was a sword in a pedestal, illuminated from above.   
Could it be…? The Master Sword?  
He walked to the pedestal, pulling on the hilt, not really expecting it to move. But it did. The sword slid out of the pedestal, and suddenly the swordsmen statues in the wall began to move their blades toward the center of the room in acknowledgement. The light from above became blinding and color began to bleed through.  
Hmm. Apparently this is what I was supposed to do, he thought. The sword still in hand, he tightened his grip on it and took a swing. It felt as natural as breathing. He sheathed it in the holster on his back and walked down the stairs to the water. He looked up at the stained glass.   
Sages, something whispered on the edges of his mind. Somewhere, some other time, this blade was used to protect Hyrule. The Hero of Time. 

Flash

He was walking into a cathedral. The walls and part of the floor were white marble. Light streamed through the windows high, high up on the walls. There was an altar at the far end of the room and a door behind it.   
His fairy – when did he get a fairy? – flew ahead and glowed green. He walked towards the altar and read an inscription. He took the ocarina out of his pocket and played a song that sounded so familiar, but so unlike anything he had ever heard. Three precious stones were suspended in the air above him and took their places in the hollowed notches on the altar.   
The Triforce above the door glowed and the door slowly opened.   
He walked towards the now open door and the fairy that was with him flew on ahead. A sword in a pedestal stood in the middle of the room.  
“Link, isn’t that… it’s that legendary blade… The Master Sword!”  
He broke into a run towards the center of the room. Standing on the pedestal, he took the hilt in both hands and pulled up with a grunt. Glowing blue light surrounded him and he felt himself go limp in suspended animation.

Flash

He was a child again.   
He was in a carefully manicured garden, surrounded by the castle walls, with his horse at his back.   
“You are already leaving this land of Hyrule, aren’t you?” A girl, same age as him, asked quietly with her back turned to him. She was wearing a long dress and her hair was hidden under a veil.   
She turned towards him. A familiar chord struck his chest.   
Zelda.  
“Even though it’s only been a short time, I feel like I’ve known you forever.” Her hands were clutching something at her chest.   
“I’ll never forget the days we spent together in Hyrule. And I believe in my heart that a day will come when I shall meet you again. Until that day comes, please take this…”  
She held a small, blue instrument in her hands. It must be an ocarina, he thought faintly. How do I know what this is? I’ve never seen an ocarina.  
Her voice cut in and out, blurring, distorting her words. He looked at her mouth to read her lips, but it was to no avail.   
“This reminds me of us…” and she began to play a song that sounded familiar, but he couldn’t identify it. The sounds flitted in and out of his hearing.   
She gave him the ocarina and he nodded in thanks.   
He mounted his horse and slowly rode away. 

Flash

He was in a forest. He could hear water flowing somewhere, and there were cliffs and promontories where the trees stood. A short figure wearing a witch’s hat in dancing in front of him. It blew on an instrument with four horns and leaves sputtered forth from the horns.   
He shook his head and knew something was just not right. He looked at his feet. Instead of seeing hands below his arms, he had paws, and a chain attached. Link felt the slight weight of someone or something on his back.   
Midna.   
When did I become a dog? Or – a wolf! He chased after the figure with the bizarre horn, only to see the part of the cliff disappear and become a path. Illusions. He kept chasing it, only to be followed by monsters.   
Fighting as a wolf felt completely foreign. No sword to draw, attack with fangs and claws, and Midna must be helping somehow…  
I must keep fast to this. Where is this creature leading me?   
Link pursued the creature, not really paying attention to his surroundings. The creature was within his reach – he sprang forward and attacked. Then he realized that he was in a clearing in this forest, surrounded by grey brick walls, and there was a Triforce etched in a metal plate on the grassy floor. There were tall humanoid statues ahead of him.  
He began to howl in frustration at the plate, and somehow that became a pale imitation of the song of the royal family. The statues bolted to life, slamming the end of their staffs against the ground.   
“We are the guardians of this land… guide us to where we once stood. Only then can you enter the true Sacred Grove…” A cemented door, bearing the crest of the royal family was ahead the guardian statues. Platforms began to appear between the statues and the forest floor disappeared.  
The guardians leapt in formation, mirroring each other’s move. Link jumped from platform to platform, dictating their every move. The guardians landed on their etched places and lifted their staffs just enough to bang them back to the platform, and the cemented door rose.  
“Go now to the sacred place, beast… We yield passage to the Sacred Grove.” The platforms disappeared and the ground became the forest floor again. With Midna on his back, he raced ahead as fast as his four paws could take him.  
The sight ahead of him was of the Master Sword, sheathed in a pedestal on the ground, light sifting through the trees above. He reached the pedestal and sniffed and stared at the sword. How was he going to be able to pull the sword from the pedestal? Before he could question this further, the sword began to shine with a bright light.

Link jolted awake. He was still in his home in Hateno. He glanced around the room, the shadows on the wall familiar and comforting. The rain thrummed against the window and lightning flashed in the distance, lighting up the room for a fraction of a second.   
I guess I find the sword… in every lifetime. He rolled to his side and drifted off again.

The halls of Hyrule Castle were bustling and a storm raged outside the walls. Zelda rushed ahead of him en route to her study. Why she was rushing, he had no idea, but her pace shocked him. She opened the door to her study with him in hot pursuit. As soon as he crossed through the door, she slammed the door shut and pushed him against the door, crashing her mouth to his.   
Ah, this is why… he thought vaguely, as he kissed her back with equal enthusiasm, his hands grabbing her hair by the fistful. Her hands palmed his pectoral muscles and her tongue traced the seam of his mouth. He opened to her, their tongues dancing, warring for dominance. She gently pulled at his lower lip with her teeth, eliciting a breathless smile from him against her lips.   
“Link…”  
He took this opportunity to sprinkle kisses along her jawline, up to the spot where her ear met her skull. She moaned as he nibbled at her ear. “Hmm?” he mumbled against her skin.  
Chest heaving, breathless, overstimulated, needing so much more. What a glorious contradiction. “I need you... I need you. Please.” Her hands reached underneath his tunic, running her hands across his chest.   
“Zelda…” his breath hissed as her fingers slid across his chest, “We can’t. We shouldn’t…”  
She backed away from him and gave him a hard look. “Do you not want to?”  
“I want to so badly it hurts.” She could see him straining against his pants.  
“Then, please…”  
He pushed his hair away from his face. “No one can ever know. We both have too much to lose.” The King had made it very clear that he was not to do anything – anything – that would defile his daughter or risk her reputation. The ‘or else’ included threat of imprisonment, or worse, after the Calamity was defeated.  
“No one. Ever. I love you too much to risk your life.”  
His stomach dropped to the floor. She loved him. She loved HIM. “You love me?”  
Her eyes were open and honest, a flush crept across her cheeks. She didn’t need to say it. Her eyes told him better than she could ever express with words.  
“Zelda, I have loved you since I laid eyes on you.”   
Knowing that she loved him, wanted – no, needed – him, was enough to make him cross that line. He turned and locked the door to her study. She gave him a shy smile in return.  
“Zelda… have you been planning this?”  
“Maybe. I started taking contraceptive elixirs.”  
A wave of relief and excitement shot through him. This could be their secret, and dare he hope that they could get away with it?   
His face broke out into a huge grin as he crossed back to her. He pulled her flush to him and reclaimed her mouth. His fingers slipped beneath her quilted tunic, gently pushing it up, his hands searching for every bit of bare skin he could touch. She lifted her arms, aiding him in removing her shirt, only breaking the kiss long enough for her clothing to go over her head.   
Her bustier remained. Simple, nothing lacy or frilly. Something very Zelda. She reached to untie the laces and his breath hitched. He grabbed her hips and she instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist, her arms around his neck. She nipped at his neck. He gasped, “Don’t leave a mark,” and he carried her over to her desk and set her down.  
“Sorry.” Her fingers deftly undid her bustier and she tossed it to the other side of the room.  
“You are truly a goddess,” he murmured into her neck, leaving hot openmouthed kisses against her pulse point, as his hands squeezed her breasts. She moaned, encouraging him. His thumbs ran over her nipples, drawing a hiss from her lips, and he moved his mouth lower to kiss and suckle at her breasts.   
“Oh, yes…” she moaned as he took her nipple into his mouth, his other hand caressing her other breast. She threw her head back, pushing her breasts further into his hand and mouth. “Oh, Link…”  
He moved his mouth from one peak to the other, her hands gripping his hair. He groaned both from pleasure and also from the pain of her tugging on his hair. She pulled his hair, dragging his mouth back to hers.   
She closed the distance between them, wrapping her legs around his hips. She moved against him and their breath hitched. The friction was delicious, but not enough. Not nearly enough.  
He pulled his tunic over his head and she ran her palms along his chest. Her fingers trailed down to his abdomen and she stopped at his belt. His abs clenched and his breath hitched. She looked up at him, asking permission without ever speaking. He nodded.   
She unbuckled his belt, pushed his pants and boxers down, and slid to her knees in front of him. She took him in her hands and he groaned. Her hands were so much softer than his callused palms.   
She leaned forward, leaving kisses along his shaft. As she reached the head, she opened her mouth, taking him in. Her tongue brushed the underside of his cock and it bobbed slightly in her mouth.   
He looked down at her and their eyes met. The flush on her cheeks and the way her lips wrapped around him made his heart skip a beat. His fingers found their way into her hair.   
In that moment, she was so beautiful, so precious, so his…   
“Zelda…” he groaned as she took his entire length into her mouth. She hummed around his shaft, her tongue moving in patterns along his shaft. His hips bucked involuntarily and she gagged slightly, pulling her mouth off him, her hands taking over.  
“Sorry,” he mumbled. She gave him a small smile and took him back in her mouth.   
She moved her mouth up and down his length, moaning slightly, and her thumbs rubbed against his hipbones. He pushed his hair back. He wanted her, needed her now.  
“Zelda…” she pulled off him and the searing look she gave him caused something to twist in his gut. He knelt on the floor with her, pushing her pants down her hips.   
“Do you have a pillow or anything? I want you to be comfortable.”   
She reached under her desk and pulled a bedroll that she had used on many of their field studies. She unrolled it, finished taking off her pants, and laid back on the bed roll. He kicked off his pants and boxers in one swift movement and crawled on top of her. Her hands wove into his hair as she dragged him down for a kiss, and any lost momentum was regained. Her leg hooked around his hip, pulling him close, feeling his hardness rub against her.  
“You’re so wet,” he moaned into her mouth.  
“You did that,” she replied with a grin.   
His mouth moved down the length of her body, her breastbone, her abdomen, to where she needed him the most. His mouth clamped down on her clit, flicking his tongue over it repeatedly. He felt her moan more than he heard it. Her hands were in fists in the bedroll. “Link…” she sighed. His eyes met hers. “Please…”  
He sank one finger inside her. Her moan encouraged him to gently add another. He sucked at her clit while his fingers thrust in and out of her in a come-hither motion.   
“Link – I – I – “   
And that was all that she could say before her walls clamped around his fingers and she cried out as she came. His fingers kept thrusting as she rode out the high of her orgasm.   
“Link…”  
He removed his mouth from her and wiped his chin with the back of his hand. “Are you sure?”  
“I’ve never been more sure of anything. I need you.”  
“Okay,” he gave her a small smile, “Tell me if we need to stop, or if I’m hurting you.”  
“I will. Promise.” She wrapped her arms wrapped around his neck.  
He knelt between her legs and took his cock in his hand. He rubbed the head of it against her clit. Her head fell back with a moan and her hips shifted against him. “Link, please…”  
He moved the head of his shaft to her entrance and slowly began to enter her. Zelda sucked in a gasp as her walls gripped the head of his cock.   
He froze. “Are you okay?”   
She took his face in her hands, rubbing her thumbs over his cheekbones. “I’m okay. I promise. Keep going.”  
Slowly, slowly, he slid inside her until he was sheathed to the hilt. He braced himself over her on his elbows and kissed her. She shifted below him and wrapped her legs around his hips, pulling him in as close as she could. That slight movement… did something so, so right. Their kiss broke as they both moaned.  
“Keep going…” she begged.  
He pulled away and thrusted forward gently and her head fell back with a moan. Her hips rose to meet his as she tried to match his rhythm.   
“I’ve never felt like this before,” she whispered on the cusp of a moan.   
“Me either,” he murmured against her neck.  
His gentle thrusts grew harder, faster, more frenzied. Her hands scrabbled to his back, pulling his chest flush to hers. Skin on skin on skin and friction. Her breath was coming in pants, punctuated with sobs of pleasure occasionally taking the form of his name.   
“Link… Link… oh, Link!” and then she was coming undone underneath him. Her eyes clenched shut, cries and curses spilling from her lips, as she gripped him like a vise. Her nails dug into his back, and he hissed. He kept thrusting, slowing as the riptide within her slowed.   
He then rolled them, their bodies still joined, so that she was on top. She braced her hands on his chest and slowly, almost cautiously, started to ride him. His hands grasped her hips, gently guiding her forward and back in a rocking motion.   
“Oooh!” She ground down, meeting the roll of his hips eagerly. She threw her head back and he thrust madly into her.   
“Zelda, I’m – I’m – “  
He gripped her hips to the point of bruising and she let him take over her movements. His head arched back into the bedroll as he panted and groaned with his release.   
He stared up at her, breathless, and in awe. Everything was perfect in that moment. She was his, and he was hers.  
“Wow,” he murmured, reaching to push her hair behind her ear.  
“Yeah,” she smiled down at him, her palm against his chest. She lifted her hips off of his and curled up on the bedroll next to him.   
He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. She rested her head on his chest and laced her fingers with his.   
“I love you,” he whispered, “So very much.”  
“I know. I love you too,” she replied. Her body shook against his with sobs.   
“Zelda, are you okay?” Concerned, he rolled to his side, running his hand over her cheek, brushing her tears away.  
“I’m – I’m okay… I didn’t expect to feel so much…” she said between gasps.   
His eyes welled up with tears. “I didn’t either.” He leaned in and kissed her forehead. “I didn’t either,” he murmured.

The sun streamed through his bedroom window. Link blearily opened his eyes, squinting against the light. The day could wait for his thoughts to settle.  
We were in love. We were lovers.   
The memory left him feeling like he had jumped from the highest peak in Hyrule to the lowest point without his paraglider.   
I can’t believe that I couldn’t remember that.   
He pushed the covers away and swung his feet out of bed. His resolve newly reforged, he changed into the Champion’s tunic she had made for him one hundred years ago. Of all of his clothes, this one was the most important to him. Remembering more and more about her made it that much more special. Today, putting it on felt like the closest thing to a hug from her.   
Zelda, I’m coming. I love you. We’ll make up for lost time. 

Epilogue

“May I ask… do you really remember me?” Her face softened, hopeful, a small smile tugging at the edges of her lips.  
He froze as if he was in stasis and took a deep breath. He nodded and rushed to her.  
“I remember us. Not everything, but enough to pick up where we left off... if you want.”  
Her face broke into a huge smile, brighter than the sun itself. A few stray tears broke loose from her eyes. They both moved to meet the other, their bodies colliding in a crushing embrace.  
“Let’s do that,” she breathed.


End file.
